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Practices

Basic Biographic Details

Hay & Henderson
Architectural practice
Year Only
1877
Year Only
1905
William Hay was born at Dykeside, Peterhead on 17 May 1818, the son of William Hay, grain merchant, and his wife Jean Alexander. He was apprenticed as a joiner but broke his leg in a fall when working on Ellishall House, and encouraged by his doctor, studied architecture during his convalescence, his first job being St James Episcopal Church, Cruden Bay, 1842-43. In 1844 he married his first wife Janet Reid (1819-60) and moved to Edinburgh as an assistant with John Henderson in order to gain experience. In 1846 he moved to George Gilbert Scott's in London and was entrusted with the building of St John's Cathedral, Newfoundland for which he travelled extensively in England and Scotland in late 1846 and early 1847 recruiting craftsmen and ordering materials. He sailed in April 1847 with his wife and her brother Thomas, who was his ward, and remained in Newfoundland until the completion of the nave of St John's in 1850. In 1848-49 he was consulted by Bishop Reid on James Cranston of Oxford's designs of 1844 for Holy Trinity Cathedral, Hamilton, Bermuda and made alterations in the course of execution, but no other work is recorded in his years at St Johns. In 1850-53 he seems to have at least intermittently been based in Peterhead where he built St John's Episcopal Church at Longside and No 22 Broad Street for his mother, but he visited Montreal and Chicago with a view to setting up practice before finally settling on Toronto, probably late in 1853. There he became Vice-President of the Mechanics Institute and Secretary of the Association of Architects Civil Engineers and Provincial Surveyors of Canada, but after his wife died childless in 1860 he abruptly departed in 1861, handing over his very prosperous practice to his assistant Henry Langley. In 1862 he was in Bermuda and in 1863 in Halifax having formed a short-lived partnership with David Stirling: in 1864, however, he returned to Scotland, married Jemima Huddleston (1838-1905) of Ryde, Isle of Wight, by whom he had one daughter, Fanny, and set up practice in Edinburgh. In 1871 he secured the important commission for the restoration of St Giles from William Chambers.

In December 1875 Hay invited George Henderson, the son of his former employer, to join him in partnership. Henderson had been born on 3 October 1846, and had been educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh from 1858 to 1861 and then trained with his father until his death in June 1862, completing his apprenticeship with David Cousin who took over at least one of his father's commissions. He had left to emigrate to Australia, arriving in May 1867 and joining the office of his former fellow assistant in his father's office, Alexander Davidson in Rokewood, Victoria. At first he had acted as an unpaid associate to Davidson, though before long both Henderson and Davidson had been able to send money home to assist their respective families, a number of large commissions coming their way in late 1868 and in early 1869 when the practice moved to Geelong in Victoria. A partnership had been formalised in late 1869, with Davidson receiving 2/3 of the profit and the younger partner 1/3. In early 1870 the partners had won the important commission for Geelong College in Newtown and in line with stylistic developments in Britain had used for the first time 'constructional polychromy'. A venture in the field of speculative building in Geelong had however not been a success and a series of unfortunate episodes of losing jobs to other architects and disputes with contractors (relating to a clause written by the practice in their terms of agreement about their right to be the sole judge of quality without arbitration) had caused them financial difficulties. Moreover in the early 1870s there had been a short depression in the wool industry and some sources of work temporarily dried up. Their first partnership had ended in December 1873 and although a new one had been formalised in July 1874 with Davidson receiving 5/9 of the profits, by this time Henderson, who had lived with Davidson and his wife since his arrival in Australia, found this arrangement a strain. Moreover he was becoming disillusioned with the work. He accepted Hay's offer and his partnership with Davidson was terminated on less than friendly terms in April 1876, Henderson sailing home later that year. The new partnership with Hay officially began in the following year.

Hay died at Rabbit Hall, Hamilton Street, Joppa, on 30 May 1888, after eight months of illness. Henderson continued the practice after Hay's death. He married Mary Elizabeth Leith Malcolm in 1897. They had two daughters, Elizabeth Stella and Amy Louise Huntly.

Henderson died on 24 March 1905 at 25 Hermitage Gardens. His office was then at 12 Queen Street.

Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this architectural practice:

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2

AddressTypeDate FromDate ToNotes
17 Hill Street Edinburgh ScotlandBusinessc. 1877
2 Hill Street Edinburgh ScotlandBusinessc. 1884In year 1887
12 Queen Street Edinburgh ScotlandBusinessc. 1888c. 1899

Partners, Employees and Pupils

The following individuals were employed or trained by this architectural practice (click on an item to view details):

Employees or Pupils2

NamePositionDate FromDate ToNotes
William HayPartnerIn year 1877In year 1888
George HendersonPartnerIn year 1877In year 1905
Robin Smith Dods (or Robert Smith Dods)AssistantIn year 1886In year 1890
William James KennedyApprenticeIn year 1894In year 1899
Alan Lawrie Goodwin (or Alan Laurie Goodwin, or Alexander Lawrie Goodwin, or Allan L Goodwin)Apprentice1897/02/01In year 1902Under sole partner George Henderson
William James KennedyAssistantIn year 1899In year 1902
Alan Lawrie Goodwin (or Alan Laurie Goodwin, or Alexander Lawrie Goodwin, or Allan L Goodwin)AssistantIn year 1902In year 1905

Buildings and Designs

This architectural practice was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):

Buildings and Designs

BuildingPartnership GPRoleDate FromDate ToTown DistrictIslandCity CountyCountryNotes
West Linton School and Episcopal ChurchB1870sWest LintonPeeblesshireScotlandAdapted for use as church alone.
SchoolAArchitectural practice1870sWest LintonPeeblesshireScotland
Philorth HouseCAfter 1877Before 1905AberdeenshireScotlandFireplace
St Giles CathedralCIn year 1878EdinburghScotlandRestoration of south transept
St Paul's ChurchAIn year 1878In year 1881GalashielsSelkirkshireScotland
St Mary's Episcopal ChurchAArchitectural practiceIn year 1879HamiltonLanarkshireScotlandChancel extended
Christ Episcopal Church RectoryAIn year 1880DunsBerwickshireScotland
Volunteer Drill HallAc. 1880PeterheadAberdeenshireScotland
Old St Paul's Episcopal ChurchBIn year 1881In year 1883EdinburghScotlandSucceeded to commission.
St Peter's Episcopal ChurchBIn year 1881GalashielsSelkirkshireScotlandChancel, south aisle, hall and schools
St Giles CathedralDIn year 1881EdinburghScotlandRestoration of nave and north transept.
St Peter's Episcopal ChurchAIn year 1882In year 1884PeeblesPeeblesshireScotlandChancel, organ chamber, vestry and porch
St Giles CathedralEIn year 1883EdinburghScotlandVestry, session house, west door, north door, screen in north transept
Old Kirkyard, Memorial to Broun FamilyAArchitectural practiceIn year 1883KirkoswaldAyrshireScotland
St Andrew's ChurchAIn year 1883PeeblesPeeblesshireScotlandRestoration of medieval tower

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this architectural practice:

Bib ref

AuthorTitleDatePublisherPartNotes
Willingham, AllanTwo Scots in Victoria: the architecture of Davidson and Henderson1983
Bailey, Rebecca MScottish architects' papers: a source book1996Edinburgh: The Rutland Pressp212

Archive References

The following archives hold material relating to this architectural practice:

Arc ref

Archive NameSourceSource Cat NoBuildingItem NameNotes
Hay and Henderson CollectionNational Monuments Record of Scotland/NMRS, RCAHMS